Improvement in adjustable lock-keepers



keeper to the casing of the door.

i UNITED lSTATES PATENT OFFICE.

.TURNER STROBRIDGE, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN ADJUSTABLE LOCK-KEEPERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 56,828, dated July 31, 1866. v

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, TURNER STEOEEIDGE, of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Mode of Manufacturing Adjustable Lock-Keepers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

In size and in general appearance, when' completed, this keeper does not vary materially from the lock-keepers now in ordinary use.

I make the main part or body of the keeper with a base, A A, which may extend its whole length, or, as shown in the drawings, Figures l and 4, a part of the way only toward the center of the keeper. In this base holes d cl are drilled, or left in casting, through which the screws e e are to be inserted for holding the The side piece, B, and the end pieces, O C, are slightly beveled or inclined, and are carried up half an inchy or more, as the thickness of the lockbolts may require.

The front or face plate of the keeper D is made or cast in a separate piece from the body of the keeper. On its front edge it has the striker'j", in the usual form, for the bolt to strike against. Near the ends are the screwholes b b, corresponding in distance from each other with the holes d d in the base A A. These holes are oblong or slotted, and serve the double purpose, in connection with the holes d d, of holding the keeper in its place and permitting the adjusting of the plate by one and the same set of screws. On the inside of this face-plate ratchets a aa, Fig. 3, or stops, as in a a a, Fig. 2, are made, which receive the side or end pieces, and, when the keeper is fastened in its place, effectually prevent the plate from being driven back by the force of the blows from the bolt of the lock in closing the door.

The ratchets or stops may also be applied in the same manner to a keeper made to be moved on a back or casing plate, or by using the ratchets on `thegbody of the keeper as serrated edges, having corresponding recesses on the front or back plates 5. or by dividing the keeper in or near the center of the end and side pieces, and applying the ratchets, the same results are obtained. I make these ratchets or stops about an eighth of an inch apart, and two or more of them, so that the distance which the plate is moved may be regulated according to the shrinkage of the door.

Now, in using this keeper, this casing or Wood to receive it is fastened by the screws e e, passing through the slotted screw-holes b bin the face-plate D, the holes d d in the base A, and into the wood.

It is supposed that when the lock is first put on the door will be tight, in which case the face-plate D and body of the keeper will be on the same front line, and the side piece, B, will catch on the first of the ratehets a a or the stops a a., Fig. 2, as shown inl the drawings, Figs. 2 and 3.

When from any cause it becomes necessary to adjust the keeper the screws e e are started back and the face-plate D is moved forward over one or more of the ratchets a a a or stops a. a, a, Fig. 2, the screws tightened in their places, and the adjustment is made as required without the use of extra set-screws, plates, or other machinery, either for adjusting or holding the keeper in its new position, while the body 'of the keeper remains stationary and the paint or fittings to the casing are not disturbed.

Having thus described the nature and method of constructing my said invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The oblong or slotted screw-holes b b, when used for the double purpose of adjusting a keeper and fastening the same to the casing of the door.

2. The combination of a movable face-plate and stationary body of a keeper with slotted and regular screw-holes and ratchets or stops, forming a keeper, substantially as shown and described.

TURNER STROBRIDGE.

Witnesses:

W. K. J ENNINGs, L. O. STONE. 

